"Ed Reed" <EReed@stripped> wrote on 03/24/2005 02:49:30 PM:
> This is an interesting problem that I hope someone can help me with. I
> have a varchar field that contains data like this,
>
> 01/01/05 SG Reviewed this
> 12/15/03 DSD Reviewed that
> 10/24/02 EWW Worked on that and tested this then stop to do something
> else
> 05/02/01 AW Did something
> 08/31/98 DSD Tested this
> 07/22/97 EWW Worked on that and did something
>
> I need a Select statement that returns the Date for the first occurance
> of the 'Tested this' substring
>
> So far what I've come up with doesn't quite get what I need and it's
> already pretty hairy. I wonder if there's a more elegant way that I'm
> unaware of.
>
> Thanks
I think you need to extract those columns during data import. That way you
have date values in a date column, the initials in their own column, and
the actions in a column all their own. It will make this a much more
manageable design. If you already have this in the database, then I would
reprocess the table and split your data up into separate columns.
Shawn Green
Database Administrator
Unimin Corporation - Spruce Pine
